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When I published an essay comparing speeches about separation of church and state by John F. Kennedy, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum, I had no idea that...his views on separation would become a central issue, let alone that he would usher in this new era of American politics by declaring on national television that he found JFK's views on separation to be vomitorious......Of course, JFK did not say and did not mean that religious people should be silenced or in any way expelled from public life. He was speaking about how he as president would balance his religious views with his constitutional responsibilities. But the notion that people of faith are being driven from the public square is a powerful theme animating a wide swath of the Religious Right and beyond. It is a claim that does not stand up to reasonable scrutiny, but it is nevertheless one of the most deeply heard dog whistles in American public life.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) A bill in Alabama would allow churches or ministries to teach a religion class to public school students off campus, so long as parents and school boards give permission and the churches are responsible for transportation and any expenses.

State Rep. Blaine Galliher, a Republican, introduced the bill at the request of Joseph Kennedy, 84, who was fired in 1980 after he refused to stop reading the Bible or teaching creationism at a public school.

I cannot recall any major pol challenging the legitimacy of anyone's religious traditions in the U.S. -- let alone demonizing some of the central religious traditions in the history of the country. This is of a piece with the far right attacks on Muslims, atheists and Jews -- and should be denounced in the same terms.

The main argument that anti-abortion activists and legislators tend to give in justifying the increasingly strict requirements like ultrasounds and face-to-face visits with a doctor and waiting periods is that women should be given access to as much information as possible to allow them to make informed decisions.

But that does not appear to be a motivation behind legislation in Kansas, which would protect doctors who refuse to provide women with information that, were they informed, might lead them to choose an abortion

Mona Charen of the National Review Online lamented that “it’s extremely disappointing that Komen has caved” but “it’s hardly surprising given the onslaught they’ve endured over the course of the last few days,” and NRO’s Daniel Foster charged Planned Parenthood with “gangsterism.” Of course, just days prior Kathryn Jean Lopez on NRO hailed Komen’s initial decision as a major victory, noting “this Komen-Planned Parenthood relationship has long been a target of pro-life activists.”

Catholic Family and Human Rights Initiative (C-Fam) president Austin Ruse told LifeSiteNews called potentially successful effort to have the Komen foundation reverse their decision defunding Planned Parenthood a “mafia shakedown”

But anti-choice activists wanted Komen to sever ties with Planned Parenthood even if that meant denying women access to healthcare, and won a preliminary victory when they convinced LifeWay, the bookstore of the Southern Baptist Convention, to stop selling Komen’s “Pink Bibles” over their Planned Parenthood ties.

The foundation’s less than believable reason for cutting of funding for breast exams at Planned Parenthood was the politically-charged investigation launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) into the women’s health group, which is greatly based on the smear campaign by Lila Rose, who recently told WORLD magazine that lying is appropriate as long as it’s for a worthy cause.

Now, anti-choice activists are demanding that Congress, like Komen, defund Planned Parenthood, and even calling on Komen to continue to bend to their demands by dropping its support for stem cell research.